Josh Matlow gives “smoking subway” text to Star scribes

December 7, 2017

The Toronto Star says that Councillor Josh Matlow has provided its reporters with a text from outgoing TTC CEO Andy Byford which contradicts Mr. Byford’s later contention that a briefing note on the Scarborough subway was prepared solely by TTC staff. The Star story says: “Byford has told council and the city’s auditor general that the memo was not prepared at the request of either Mayor John Tory or TTC Chair Josh Colle, and that it was instead initiated by transit agency staff to prepare TTC executives for questions on an important debate. An auditor general’s report on the briefing note released in October reached the same conclusion.” That briefing note is said to have cast significant doubt that a return (from the Scarborough subway) to an alternative light rail transit (LRT) plan was possible and relied on incorrect assumptions to conclude the cost of the LRT had also risen to nearly match that of a subway. Call it a “smoking subway” development.